Monday, October 7, 2013

There's an almost invisible phrase in Moroni 10:3. (At least it sometimes feels like it from my experience.)

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye
shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read
them, that ye would remember how merciful
the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam
even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.)

I think everyone has this scripture memorized, but here is the missing piece just in case it's a little fuzzy:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye
shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read
them, that ye would remember how merciful
the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam
even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts.)

Have you noticed how many times the Book of Mormon follows this pattern?Nephi, attempting to build faith in his brothers reminds them of the times that God helped Moses (1 Nephi 4: 2), and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (1 Nephi 17:40). Ammon, teaching King Lamoni in Alma 18: 36 "began at the creation of the world, and also the creation of Adam..." Aaron, teaching King Lamoni's father, "began from the creation of Adam..." (Alma 22: 12). There are many more examples. This principle brings to mind a promise we make when we partake of the Sacrament:

3 O God, the Eternal Father, we ask thee in the name of thy Son, Jesus Christ, to bless and sanctify this bread to the souls of all those who partake of it; that they may eat in remembrance of the body of thy Son, and witness unto thee, O God, the Eternal Father, that they are willing to take upon them the name of thy Son, and always remember him, and keep his commandments which he hath given them, that they may always have his Spirit to be with them. Amen.

If our hearts are open, spiritual strength can come from learning about and remembering how God and His son, Jesus Christ have blessed those who have gone before us. It builds our faith that they will do the same for us. They keep their promises. I guess that's why I am so excited about this VT emphasis. These messages will have the spiritual power to build our testimonies, change hearts, and also to strengthen and sustain us in our trials and difficulties. I wanted our sisters to be able to save these VT messages together in one place, to help them to grow, to renew and build strength as they review the messages. I bought an inexpensive album for 4 by 6-inch photos and created a cover for it.

Cover for 4 by 6-inch photo album

I also created an inner cover to explain the "why" behind this VT topic:

Inner cover--the "why" as explained in September 2013 Ensign

And while caught up in designing frenzy delirium, I found myself creating a second October printable. Either one of my October printables will fit inside a 4 by 6-inch photo album:

Click on any of the above images to enlarge it, then right click on the resulting image to save it to your computer. Print the image yourself or send it out to a photo center.

Carpal tunnel has begun exacting revenge on me again (wonder why?), so this might be my last entry for a while. If I don't have a 4 by 6-inch printable ready for you in the future, there are many other sites that will. Check out Sugardoodle's VT listings here. Have a great October!Thanks for visiting,Susan

Friday, October 4, 2013

"Beginning in October 2013 the Relief Society Visiting Teaching Messages will focus on the divine mission of Jesus Christ and His many roles and attributes.By studying and focusing on the roles and attributes of the Savior, the sisters in the Church will learn to be like Him and will be able to discuss with the sisters they serve how the teachings and example of the Savior can influence their lives." [Emphasis mine.] From the September 2013 Ensign.

When I found out about the new VT emphasis, I didn't want be left behind. I had to create a printable for it!

The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: CreatorFor this month's theme, I felt that the image of the world should look like a gift to your sister because the earth is the most beautiful, personally-crafted gift ever created, made with us in mind. We take photography like this for granted now, but I remember how awed I was by the beauty of the first photo ever taken of the earth's entire surface. It was jaw-dropping gorgeous!

One of my favorite scriptures fits so well with October's message, I included it as a tag on the printable.My heart soared the first time I read D&C 59: 18, 19because I recognized that God's love is even in the smallest details around us.

18. Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart;

19. Yea, for food and for raiment, for taste and for smell, to strengthen the body and to enliven the soul

Creating the printable is almost intuitive. Download, print and cut everything out. The tan tag is folded in half where indicated. "X" marks the spot you'll punch the tan tag (when folded) with a 1/4" hole punch. You'll hopefully see four tiny notches on the edge of the world to snip. These hold the string in place when you wrap it around the earth. I used about 28 inches of natural/black baker's twine on the sample. Card stock is the best weight for this printout, or you can glue stick the earth to a scrap of poster board and cut it out. If you'd like, you can also bring your sister some of the harvest bounty that's available this month--the best visual aids out there for D&C 59:18, 19!

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Yes, technically, this is still not an active blog. (If it were, I would have to fix all the broken links that were created by Google's changes. Carpal tunnel is actually wonderful thing on unwanted occasions like these.) But I can't stay away any longer--this Saturday and Sunday is my favorite weekend. General Conference. I can't think of anything better than to listen to inspired messages while sitting alongside the ones I love most. It feels like a beautiful dream is ending when the final session winds down to the closing hymn and prayer, and we have to return to reality again.It wasn't always that way. One day, back in high school, my lukewarm Conference attitude changed when I went out to get the mail. As I pulled the Conference issue of the Ensign out of the mailbox, something on the cover caught my eye: "Whether by mine own voice or by the voice of my servants, it is the same." My heart soared and I thought, "Of course!" I have loved Conference ever since. When Steve and I were dating, he earned major points because 1. He knew who Neal A. Maxwell was (My favorite apostle at the time. I was surprised how many guys had no clue.) and 2. He appreciated the wordsmithing of Elder Neal A. Maxwell enough to own most of his books. From that point on, it wouldn't have mattered if Steve had had 3 arms (he doesn't) or if he didn't like pizza (he doesn't). The rest was history.So, to celebrate my favorite weekend, I planned to create a GeneralConference Kitfrom A Bushel and a Peck for my VT sisters:

But I kept thinking about living waters. And I finally decided it might be easier to create my own handout than to create a new password at Scribd for the Conference Kit download. The design is strongly influenced by something you might have seen somewhere recently before:

Thursday, January 31, 2013

It's the last day of the month, and I hadn't planned to post anything, but it's a hazardous world out there today and posting gives me a good excuse to stay home for now. By 10:00 this morning, my car was almost hit twice. Even though I feel lucky to come through it unscathed, that's all the close calls I'd like my heart to handle for the next hour or so!

I know...everyone has already completed their VT this month, but maybe this idea will come in handy at another time. Practically everyone who posted a handout for January quoted the Elder Uchtdorf selection. And most of us were particularly taken with this part of it:

"Sometimes a single phrase of testimony can set events in motion that affect someone's life for eternity."

This got me thinking about people who feel hesitant to share testimony because they don't have an earth-shattering-faith-promoting experience to share. That's not the point of bearing testimony. The point is to give the Spirit an opportunity to bear witness of truth. He can do that through any declaration of truth, even short and simple.And so, here's a short and simple handout that you can tie to a little bag of Hershey's Kisses, along with a full copy of the message.: